Carpet fastener



Sept. 17, 1957 N. MAEX CARPET FASTENER Filed Sept. 24, 1954 INVENTOR. NIKOLAUS MAEX BY (Wm & 7%6

A TTORNE Y5 United States Patent "i' ce 2,866,243 CARPET FASTENER Nikolaus Maex, Los Angeles, Calif. Application September24, 1954, Serial No. 458,152

1 Claim. (Cl. 16-46) This invention relates to a carpet fastener, and more particularly to an improved carpet fastener of the strip type for securing a marginal carpet section.

In carpet laying operations, especially where wall-towall floor covering is required, some form of carpet fastening means is desirable to secure the marginal sections of the carpet, and thereby assure that the carpet will lie fiat without undesirable wrinkles or curling of the edges. Tacking down hasbeen a common expedient for solving this problem. However, in recent years a more satisfactory answer has been found by using carpet fasteners embodying a series of wooden mounting strips. Each wooden strip usually has nails driven through its thickness from its bottom surface to leave a protruding pointed portion projecting from its top surface. The strips are then adapted to be laid along and attached to the floor adjacent a particular wall structure, and the marginal section of the carpet is then pressed down onto the pointed portions of the nails. These pointed portions engage and hold the carpet against shifting or other movement.

Certain difliculties have been encountered in the use of such carpet fasteners. The nails have a tendency to splinter the uppermost layers of wood near the top surface of the wooden strip, thereby decreasing the actual nail supporting thickness of the wood and resulting in an irregular top surface'upon which the marginal section of the carpet will rest. The importance of sufiicient nail supporting thickness is more readily apparent, when it is realized that the nails are usually driven into the'wooden strips at an angle suchthat they will be inclined towards thewall structure which the strips border when they are laid on thefloor. When the carpet is pressed down onto, the protruding portions, it is usually stretched towards the wall so thatin final positioning the carpet is exerting a slight force in a direction away from the wall which will tend to bend'the nails to a non-effective po sition unless they are'adequately supported by the thickness of the wooden mounting strip.

This difiiculty of adequate securing of the nails has been overcome to a certain extent by using laminated plywood stripping, but splintering of the uppermost layer of wood still oftentimes occurs. In addition, in view of the angulated driving of the nails, the heads of the nails must be set or recessed into the lower layer of the wooden strip in order that the strips may lie fiat on the floor. Thus, the effective supporting thickness for the nails is even further decreased. Consequently, it is sometimes necessary to employ extra thick wooden strips to allow for the non-supporting increment of thickness resulting from recessing of the nail heads in the lower layer and splintering of the upper layer.

Another problem is that nails, tacks, and similar elements available for driving through the wooden strips all include substantially conically shaped points. As a result, the retaining side surface of the protruding portion of the nail or other element is reduced in its effectiveness since the conical point includes a sloping portion inclined in a 2,806,243 Patented Sept. 17, 1957 tener of the mounting strip type employing a carpet engaging and holding element that need not be recessed or set in the lower layers of the mounting strip.

A still further object is to provide an improved carpet fastener of the mounting strip type employing a carpet engaging and holding element having a point shaped to increase the effective retaining side surface of its pro truding portion.

Briefly, these and other objects of this invention are achieved by using wire prongs having inclined upper end surfaces, and preferably similar inclined lower end surfaces. These prongs, instead of being hammered through the bottom surface of the mounting strip, are inserted through the top surface of thestrip, thus eliminating the possibility of splintering since the uppermost layersof the Wood are placed in compression instead of tension. When the lower inclined end surface of the prong reaches the bottom surface of the strip, a'restraining member may be used which will eifectively bend the lower inclined end surface back into flush engagement with the bottom surface of the mounting strip and at the same time prevent any possible splintering of the lowermost layers.

A better understanding of this invention will be had by reference to the attached drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved carpet fastener of the present invention positioned near a wall structure prior to the laying of a carpet;

Figure 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the mounting strip of Fig. 1 showing the structural details of one wire prong immediately after it has been inserted in themounting strip;

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional View, similar to Fig. 2, of the prong after it has been brought into flush engagement with the bottom surface of the mounting strip; and

Figure 4 is a transverse sectional view of the carpet fastener in the position of Fig. 1 after the carpet has been laid.

Referring firstto Figure 1, there is shown a portion of a room or other enclosure having a floor 10 with a wall structure 11 to which a baseboard 12 is attached.

Positioned on the floor 10 bordering the baseboard 12 is a. preferred formof the carpet fastener of the present inventionvembodying a vmounting strip, generally designated by the numeral 13, to which are attached a plurality of wire prongs, generally designated by the numeral 14. Themounting strip may be attached to the floor, as by nails 15, passed through the strip from its upper surface.

The detailed structure of each wire prong is more clearly shown by reference to Figure 2. In this cross-section of the carpet fastener, one of the wire prongs 14 is seen attached to the mounting strip 13. The mounting strip is provided with a top surface 20, from which a portion 21 of the prong 14 projects. The protruding portion terminates in an inclined, uniplanar upper end surface 22. The end surface 22 slopes downwardly away from a retaining side surface 23 of the protruding portion 21. This retaining side surface, when the carpet fastener is positioned, will face the wall structure.

The prong 14 also has an imbedded portion 24 extending from the protruded portion 21 through the thickness of the mounting strip 13, and terminating in an in- 3 clined, uniplanar lower end surface 25, As shown in the'view'of Figure 2, inclined lower end surface 25 partially extends through the bottom surface 26 of the mounting strip 13. This lower extremity of surface 25 is bent back 'iuto the bottom surface, 26 of the mounting strip in order that'the bottom surface will be entirely flush before the strip is positioned on the floor 10. End surface 25 is, thus deformed as shown in the view of Fig. 3.

As will be noted from the views of Figs. 2 and 3, the mounting strip 13 includes a beveled side surface 27- and a straight side surface 28. As is shown more clearly in the. view of Fig. 4, the mounting strip is usually disposed such that the side surface28abuts a carpet pad 40, and such that theside surface 27 is spaced a short distance from the baseboard 12; The marginal section of the carpet 41* is then pressed down onto prongs 14, and the edge. of the carpet is compressed down into the groove formed between the beveled side surface, 27 and the baseboard 12. Usually, the mounting strip 13 will be designed to have a thickness equal to the thickness of the pad 40. so thatthe carpet will lieflat on the pad and top surface of the mounting strip.

The elemental portions and surfaces of wire prong 14 each perform functions essential to carpet fastening requirements, and they overcome most of the difficulties associated with former carpet engaging and holding structures, such as nails, tacks, and the like. The inclined upper end surface 22 serves as a means of penetrating the carpet in order that it may be engaged by the protruding portion14 of the wire prong. The retaining side surface 23 of the protruding portion functions to counteract the slight tensional force tending to pull the carpet away from the wall 11, which results from the carpet being stretched preparatory to being pressed down onto wire prongs 14. It will be noted that the inclined upper end surface 22 slopes downwardly away from the retaining side surface 23 so that the slope of the end surface 22 does not detract from the effective carpet retaining action of side surface 23. Inclined lower end surface 25 serves as a means of penetrating through the thickness of the mounting strip 13 as well as a means of securely locking the prong in position once the lower extremity of the end surface 25 has been bent back into flush engagement with the bottom surface 26 of the mounting strip 13. The imbedded portion 24 not only extends throughout the entire thickness of the mounting strip, but the entire thickness of the strip acts to support the prong 14 since splintering is avoided and no recessing is required when the prong of this invention is employed.

Preferably, the upper inclined end surface 22 and the lower inclined end surface 25 are formed identically such that they will lie in parallel planes. With such a design,

successive prongs may be formed from a continuous reel of wire with substantially no scrap loss. In other words,

a single angulated cut through the wire will serve to form both an inclined upper end surface 22 for one prong and an inclined lower end surface 25 for the next prong.

It will be noted that the prongs 14 are shown in the drawings as inclined towards the wall structure 11. In-

cli nation of the prongs, although not necessary, is destructions of composition material or, single layer wood may be employed since the wire prong 14 will be firmly embedded and secured throughout the whole thickness of the material being used.

It will be understood that the particular improved carpet fastener which has been described and illustrated may take other forms within the scope and spirit of the invention. This invention is therefore not to be thought of as limited to the particular structure shown.

What is claimed is:

A carpet fastener for securing the marginal edge of a carpet, comprising: a mounting strip; and a plurality of parallel individual prongs extending through the thickness of said strip and inclined to the top surface of said strip; each of said prongs consisting solely of a straight wire segment having upper and lower end surfaces inclined with respect to the longitudinal axis thereof and having an imbedded portion passing downwardly through said top surface to the bottom surface of said strip, and an exposed portion remaining above said top surface; the lower tip of said imbedded portion being bent into coplanar relationship With said bottom surface of said strip; said upper end surface of said wire segment being inclined downwardly away from the upper tip thereof and from the adjacent marginal edge of the engaged carpet to thereby provide a straight holding surface throughout the length of the exposed portion, whereby said marginal edge may be held on said mounting strip by said holding surface after penetrating engagement of said marginal edge by said exposed portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent 

